Contiki Cough

Okay, so I've been reading through a bunch of threads and this contiki cough thing kept coming up. I'm going on the European Horizon end of May '09 and I was just wondering how many of you actually got the cough, and how many didn't? Also is it really worth it to ask my doctor for antibiotics before I go?

Hey Kat, I went on the GS last year and I was one of the lucky ones who did not get sick…. I would say about half of our bus did get sick at one point or another on the tour though… And as I’m sure you read in the other threads…get sleep while/when you can and I definitely think that helps. I still went out most nights, but in a few of the quieter nights I wasn’t afraid to turn in a little earlier to get a good nights sleep!

HiI’ve been on 5 contiki’s and got sick on every one of them. I am very fit person who eats well and I wasn’t one to go out raging every night.I really don’t think you can stop getting sick.I took vitamins each time and they didn’t help.I wouldn’t worry about taking anti biotics as you don’t want to risk having trouble at the border.At the end of the day it won’t stop you from doing things!ON my last trip to the states I got laryngitus and I still did everything!

Hiya,if you want to take antibiotics or for that matter any prescription tablets you just take a note from your Doctor and keep it handy with you just in case you are questioned…easy ! <!--graemlin::)-->

I can pretty much guarantee whether you get sick or not will largly depend on how hard you party. I did the Euro Encounter last spring and no one on the tour got sick that I know of. I bet we only partied hard 3 or 4 nights of the 18 day tour though. I’m not sure where you are from, but if you can get some ColdFX it’s great. I take a bottle just in case. Just take it as soon as you start feeling like you might be getting sick, and it shouldn’t progress past that point.

Nobody got sick on the last contiki tour that i did, the only sickness was hangovers ! <!--graemlin:;)-->lol….so i dont think ‘every’ tour gets the famous contiki cough – thankgoodness ! – but then i could imagine that if a few people got sick it could run rampant thru the bus as you are all in close proximity to each other for such a long period of time, that would be totally crap.

I don’t think it happens on every tour either. Only two people on my last tour, including myself, got sick and it was not the dreaded Contiki cough. We just picked up the common cold. So, a few cold meds and a ready supply of cough drops and I was good to go. Both of us were over it in two to three days. The cold just gave me the excuse to chill out, take things slower, and spend more time people watching.

Put it this way, if you’re gonna get sick, you’re gonna get sick.Eat healthy, take your vitamins, keep your fluid up and get lots of rest – check did all that, still copped the Contiki cough, lost my voice and wanted to die.My suggestion – take whatever drugs you can from home just in case or visit a chemist when its coming. It sucked arse <!--graemlin::(-->

I was on the LA to the Bay Tour in Feb 2008 … and 80% of the folks got sick towards the end of the tour. You can’t help it sometimes … so many people cooped up in a bus for so long … Still, it’s part of the Contiki fun at the end of the day! =D

I went on the Grand Southern last year and I got sick towards the end, and the cough stayed with me long after I got home. Most of the people on my tour got at least a little bit sick at some stage throughout, like others have said, when you are all that close together on the bus it is kind of impossible for it not to spread to each other

I had 3 contiki… the last one was the Grand Northern last month… As the air conditioning on the coach was crazly high, 10-15 of us got sick.. I had (and still have) a strong cough… we didn’t have time to go to the doctor because we moved very quickly across the country (and we mostly travelled in the middle of nowhere…).. That’s why my cough became a strong bronchitis… By the way, you’ll survive! But remember: take a jumper and long pants on the coach! air conditioning is really crazy!I hate it now!Hope it helps!

I’ve heard alot about it too, well my bf did the european camping trip last year and got the contiki cough, most of the people on the tour got sick and my friend who did the european tour this year got sick aswell, I guess it’s just one of those things where you’re on a bus with everyone and one person gets sick and then everyone else follows, alot of rest and water and warmth is what I’ll be doing when I go cause knowing me I will get sick lol, I think it’s also a matter of getting used to climate change since you’re in different country.